On Swift Horses ★★★

In their first encounter in On Swift Horses, the natures of Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Julius (Jacob Elordi) are immediately clear. Muriel has snuck into the bathroom of the home she now shares with Julius’s brother Lee (Will Poulter). She pulls out a hidden pack of cigarettes and goes to the window to keep her smoke outside of the home and undetectable. There, she finds Julius. He is laying shirtless on the hood of a car, completely unaffected by the frigid Kansas winter around him. Neither are surprised to find the other there, starting up a casual conversation before Julius is inside. In the 1950s American world where they exist, the expectations for both are clear. Muriel is to be a housewife for Lee, a key piece to his achieving the American Dream. Julius is a soldier returning from the Korean War, having promised to go in with Lee on a home for the brothers and expected to start his own end of the American Dream and everything that entails. But, neither do what is expected of them and always cut against the grain of societal expectations.

Director Daniel Minahan’s On Swift Horses feels influenced by Todd Haynes. Haynes’s films Far from Heaven and Carol not only had echoes of classic 1950s and 1960s melodramas – especially those from Douglas Sirk – but they undercut the glossy nostalgia for the era with the harsh reality of living life on the edges of the society of that time. For men like Lee, life is about achieving the American Dream. He wants a wife and thinks Muriel is the perfect fit. He wants a home with a picket fence and finds one in San Diego, getting in early on a new community where he buys the model home. In time, he and Muriel’s home will be boxed in by an onslaught of other new builds sprouting up all around them. It is the place where he envisioned Julius would be right by his side, but Julius is off in Las Vegas and living a free spirited existence. Muriel is there with Lee, but she harbors her own secrets and resents being boxed in by the community around her or by Lee. It is the American Dream in look, but Lee only has half the picture.

Muriel and Julius live their lives in the shadows. Muriel gets dressed up to spend her days off at the local horse track, taking advantage of tips she overheard during her work at a diner to win big. It is money that opens doors for her, keeping an envelope of the cash tucked away and hidden from Lee for her own uses. At the track, she meets Gail (Kat Cunning) who invites her to a local San Diego hotel known for being a haven for the local LGBTQ community. While Muriel will go – and experience the adrenaline rush and panic of a police raid – it is closer to home where she starts an affair with her neighbor Sandra (Sasha Calle), spending a few nights and days off in the privacy of Sandra’s home. Julius floats around Las Vegas, gambling at a few casinos and using his cunning for some cheating schemes. He rarely has any money and ends up taking a job trying to spot cheaters at a casino. There, he meets Henry (Diego Calva). Pushing through the trepidation and risk of exposure, the pair start a passionate romance. They spend their nights in dark hotel rooms or in the perch of the casino, watching gamblers through the two-way mirror. Like the gamblers they are, there is always risk, both in being detected for their sexual activities and in the solidity of their present lives. Muriel’s marriage to Lee hangs in the balance with her affairs, while Julius’s life with Henry is threatened by Henry’s desire for them to start running their own cheating schemes at casinos, using tricks and approaches they learned watching others. In the name of love and self-actualization, they put it all on the line and hope for their good luck to keep rolling.

On Swift Horses is an emotionally stirring film, powered by the fantastic performances of its cast. This is not a film built around theatrical emotions and overly dramatic scenes. Instead, it stays grounded and authentic with the performances crucial to this, especially the magnificent Jacob Elordi. He has so much natural charisma that he charms from the moment Julius is introduced, but there is a longing and a sorrow around him that makes Julius such a fascinating figure. He has, naturally, faced persecution for his sexuality and his scars weigh heavy on him. In Henry, he finds someone he can be free around and the pair’s passion and longing are intoxicating. Diego Calva delivers a showstopping performance as the electric Henry, a lively figure who lights up a room the moment he steps in and who possesses an internal freedom that a man like Julius is naturally drawn toward. As Henry starts to scheme and gets a bit greedy, the pain in Elordi’s voice and the fear of losing this feeling are so powerful. Daisy Edgar-Jones has a natural grace about her that draws one in from Muriel’s first scene, while she has so much conflict in her soul that makes the character so fascinating. She loves Lee and part of her wants the life that Lee wants for her, but it never feels right. This internal conflict, the freedom she expresses at the track and with Sandra, and the sorrow in her performance as it all comes crashing down around her makes Muriel into a highly compelling figure. As with Elordi and Calva, it is not a performance based on big, expressive scenes but rather in more reserved and low-key dramatics. It is a film, like many of Haynes’s films, about glances and repressed emotion. Edgar-Jones typifies this and delivers an impressive performance.

This western romance benefits from terrific cinematography by Luc Montpellier and costumes by Jeriana San Juan. Together, they bring to life the look and aesthetic of 1950s America with a true gloss and glow to every scene. There is an extravagance and a bright beauty to the film that counters its hard emotions and deep feelings. This look is a key asset to On Swift Horses, though it struggles more in Minahan’s direction and the editing that can feel too choppy. It follows many threads and characters throughout its runtime and as it gets bogged down in jumping around, the pacing suffers and the film can begin to feel disjointed. Muriel and Julius are often the guiding light, but for a long stretch, it can feel like little has happened as On Swift Horses drifts alongside its characters. With the film being based on the novel by Shannon Pufahl, some of these problems are only natural in trying to condense a novel into a film but it nevertheless holds it back from being an even stronger work.

Daniel Minahan’s On Swift Horses is a powerful and deeply emotional film about the gambles one takes in everyday life. For some, the simple and expected life is more than enough. For others, they need a little risk and to take a chance on themselves living a life they feel truly meant for them beyond all expectation. Backed by terrific work from Jacob Elordi, Diego Calva, and Daisy Edgar-Jones, as well as striking cinematography and stylish costume design, On Swift Horses is an often stirring work with echoes of Todd Haynes and Douglas Sirk’s melodramas. However, a struggle in piecing together its many storylines into a cohesive experience leaves some of its arcs undercut and its overall effect dulled by a disjointed structure. It is still a good film, but a flawed one that only intermittently reaches the heights of its influences.